


You're a Sky Full of Stars

by AlannasTara



Series: Wildest Dreams [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, F/M, Fluff, Nine Lives Summer Escapades Fanfiction Challenge, Oneshot, Romance, wildest dreams universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 09:38:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15046142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannasTara/pseuds/AlannasTara
Summary: Daryl and Carol take a camping trip that turns out to be nothing they expected, and everything they wanted. Wildest Dreams Universe.





	You're a Sky Full of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> _Prompt: We decided it would be fun to go camping and now it’s raining and we can’t figure out how to set up the tent AU_
> 
>  
> 
> **Set in the 'Wildest Dreams' Universe -- 4 years later**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Title taken from "A Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay:
> 
>  
> 
> _'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars_  
>  I'm gonna give you my heart  
> 'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars  
> 'Cause you light up the path I don't care, go on and tear me apart  
> I don't care if you do ooh ooh  
> 'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky full of stars  
> I think I saw you 'Cause you're a sky, you're a sky full of stars  
> Such a heavenly view  
> You're such a heavenly view
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to Whowhatsitwhich and Subversivegrrl for keeping me sane and looking this over for me! I couldn't do this without you!
> 
> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

“You have got to be kidding me.” 

 

Rain dripped off the end of her nose as she stood there, disbelief written all over her face. 

 

Daryl shifted in embarrassment, his face covered by long hair plastered  to his head by the sudden downpour. 

 

“Didn’t think it’d be so damn complicated,” he huffed. 

 

The pile of canvas and nylon lay in a heap before them, a misshapen beast with poles jutting out  like limbs flailing. 

 

“I thought you’d done this before.” 

 

“Pfft! Hell no. Always slept in my truck or a motel. Never needed a tent,” he said, as goosebumps broke out over the bare flesh of his arms. 

 

“Well, did you at least read the directions?”

 

Carol flipped her backpack around and dug inside for her jacket, not that it would help much. She was already drenched and looking like a bedraggled, disgruntled, wet cat. 

 

“Nah,” he admitted, sheepishly. “Threw ‘em away.” 

 

“Good Lord, Daryl.” Carol sighed, nudging the soggy lump of fabric with the toe of her brand-spanking-new hiking boots. Boots she’d purchased specifically for this camping trip with Daryl. 

 

He wanted to celebrate their anniversary, and while typically that meant a trip to the beach, and their special spot, he’d wanted to do something a little different this year. 

 

Which is how they found themselves in the middle of a forest, on some God-forsaken mountain somewhere, with no cell phone signal, and no vehicle, because they’d had the bright idea to park at the base of the mountain and hike to their destination. 

 

“We need some kind of shelter before it gets dark,” she said, matter-of-factly. 

 

“I know, I know. Gimme a sec.” 

 

Daryl grabbed the tent and yanked the poles out from the tangled up mess. He jammed them in the ground a few feet apart from one another in a couple different directions, and draped the canvas over the top, creating a lean-to of sorts. 

 

Carol gave him her best “you’ve got to be kidding me” look, before taking the canvas awning of the tent and placing it on the ground under the makeshift shelter. 

 

“I thought you were some kind of survivalist type,” she remarked, drolly. 

 

“Yeah, riiiight,” he drawled. “When have you seen me rough it before?”

 

She sat down under the shelter and pulled her wet shirt off, grabbing a dry shirt from her bag, and shrugging into it, all while chuckling to herself.

 

“True.” 

 

Carol unrolled her sleeping bag and draped it across her shoulders, trying to steal back some warmth. Daryl was digging in his own bag for his hoodie, and she admired the play and stretch of the soaked, clingy cotton tee shirt against his toned and muscular torso. The years hadn’t lessened her desire for him, or their love for one another. Their bond, forged in the fires of their previous lives, was just as strong now as it was in the beginning -- stronger even -- time tested, and proven. 

 

Her life was so much... **_more_ ** with him in it. Fuller. Deeper. She had roots now. Just like the centuries-old trees surrounding them, she was here to stay -- right by his side. 

 

He finished changing and she draped half of her sleeping bag around him as well. 

 

“Scoot under here. Help me keep warm.” She slid her cool arm under his shirt and around his waist, grinning when he yelped and mock-glared at her. 

 

“You’re freezin’,” he grumbled, putting his arm around her shoulders and drawing her up next to him. 

 

“Whose fault is that,” she teased, burrowing further into his side, inhaling the scent of damp earth and rich pines surrounding them.  

 

“Here.”  He handed her a packet of jerky to munch on; their plans for grilling dinner put on hold by the weather. 

 

They sat quietly, soaking in the soothing sounds of rain hitting the flimsy “roof” above them, and dripping off the side to plop in the puddles on the ground. 

 

“Do you ever miss it?” Carol broke the silence after a while, her thoughts on how peaceful and practically mundane their lives had become over the last couple of years. 

 

“Hell no.”

 

When he didn’t seem inclined to say anything further, she prompted him. 

 

“Why?”

 

He was quiet for a moment, and she waited, knowing he would eventually answer but he needed time to gather his thoughts first. 

 

“Didn’t always have a place to call home when I was growin’ up. We moved so many times, I lost count. Mooched off of family, staying here and there ‘til we wore out our welcome. Old man didn’t hold a job, so we never had anything. Nothing.”

 

She nodded, encouraging him. 

 

“Was the same when I got to be on my own. Job I had...we had...that life? Couldn’t count on anything for long, ya know?”   
  


Carol did know. She knew all too well how that insecurity could leave you craving safety, and warmth...and stability. 

 

“Now, with you? It’s like I finally have that,” he said, blushing, his words growing more softer as he continued. “ _ You’re _ my  _ home _ .”

 

Her eyes watered until she couldn’t tell the difference between the tears of happiness on her face and the drops of rain being blown in under the tent roof.

 

“I feel the same,” she replied, her voice hoarse, thick with emotion. 

 

She nudged his jaw with her nose and he looked down at her, his eyes damp as well. 

 

Their lips met softly, gently. Tears and rain mingled on their tongues, salty and sweet all at once as they deepened the kiss.  She could feel him moving his arms around her and shuffling in the sleeping bag, but when they separated, lips swollen and pink, and she looked down, resting her head against his shoulder, she saw it. 

 

In his hand was a small diamond solitaire. 

 

“Daryl?” She gasped, pulling her head back to look him in the eyes. 

 

“This ain’t going anywhere near how I planned it all in my head, but now it just feels right. I know we can’t get married like regular people. Not without risking everything, but I want you to know: I’m in this. I’m all in. One hundred percent. There won’t ever be anyone else for me, and this here?” He held out the ring. “This is just my own way of making that commitment to you...you know, if you want?” 

 

She was full on crying now, tears leaking down her cheeks and blurring her vision. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face there in the crook, soaking his hoodie. 

 

“Yes! Of course!” Her answer was muffled in the fabric, but he wrapped his arms around her squeezing her to him, letting her know he heard her affirmation. 

 

When she pulled back, she kissed him again, this time taking it slow and easy, melting into him and his embrace. 

  
  


Once the rain let up, they gathered up their belongings and hoofed it back to the car. Giving up on the whole camping “thing,” they both admitted to themselves and each other that “roughing it” wasn’t exactly their style. They drove until they reached the little town just a few miles from the base of the mountain. It was small, just one stop light on the main road through the town square. Barely a speck on the map. 

 

Daryl cut the wheel of their SUV to the right, narrowly missing the gravelly turn into the parking lot of the cheap motel. The “t-e-l” didn’t light up so the sign read “Mo”, blinking on and off with glaring hot pink bulbs. 

 

“It’s not much, but it’s better than a rain soaked sleeping bag.” 

 

Carol hummed, wordlessly agreeing with him as she took in the run-down appearance of the place. 

 

“It’s not like there’s much to choose from out here,” she eventually replied. “It’s fine.” She squeezed his knee with her left hand, the diamond catching her eye as it winked at her in the faint moonlight. 

 

The tinny sound of a little bell pealed in their ears as they opened the door to the motel’s front desk lobby. Pine-sol invaded their nostrils as a little old lady pushed a mop across the dingy linoleum. She looked up at the sound of the bell, pushing a lock of graying hair behind her ear and tucking her loose bun back into place. 

 

“Welcome!” She offered, cheerily. “How can I help you?”

 

“We need a room—” Daryl started to say, but Carol nudged him with her elbow, cutting him off with a smile, as she interrupted. 

 

“We’re on our honeymoon,” she said, waving her left hand to show off her ring.

 

“Oh my!” The lady smiled a knowing smile, and looked at them with such warmth that Daryl started blushing, his ears turning bright red. “Well, we have just the thing, yes we do. Just the thing.”

 

She turned to the computer behind the counter and clicked the mouse a few times, her clean, neat nails clacking across the computer keys, as she pulled up the hotel registry.

 

“I just need you to sign here,” she said as she pushed a clipboard across the counter, “and I’ll need a copy of your driver’s license — not yours dear, I’m sure you haven’t had time to change it yet — there ya go. Thank you.” She passed a yellow carbon copy of the agreement to Daryl, before running his ID through the copier. “We don’t have a “honeymoon suite” but I’ve got the best room we have, and for being newlyweds, I’m going to give you a discount,” she finished, as she handed them a room key. 

 

“Oh you don’t have to—“

 

“Nonsense. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do,” the lady said, shushing Carol with dainty wave of her delicate hand. “Just let me do this—oh! And I have something else for you, just a minute—,” she trailed off as she rushed into a back room, her linen skirt swishing around her ankles. 

 

When she returned a moment later, her cheeks pink and flushed, she held a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon in her hand. 

 

“It’s not fancy, but it’s on the house.” 

 

She passed the bottle to Carol, beaming at the two of them. 

 

“Thank you, so much, Ms—“

 

“Irma. Call me Irma.” She clapped her hands together, giving them directions to their room. “At the end of building, last room on the second floor. Checkout is at 11am.”

 

“Thank you, again! We appreciate your help, everything you’ve done,” Carol gushed. 

 

“No problem.” She winked at them waving and shooing them out the door. “You all have a good night...Mr. and Mrs. Dixon.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> xoxoxo


End file.
